Music Therapists
Plan, organize, direct, or assess clinical and evidenced-based music therapy interventions to positively influence individuals' physical, psychological, cognitive, or behavioral status.
Also Known As:
Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC)
LCAT (Licensed Creative Arts Therapist)
Music Therapist
Neurologic Music Therapist
Public School System Music Therapist
Therapist
Wages
Annual wages for Music Therapists in United States
Job Outlook
Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
62,500
12% Change From 2024
Explore Music Therapists video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Integrate behavioral, developmental, improvisational, medical, or neurological approaches into music therapy treatments.
- Customize treatment programs for specific areas of music therapy, such as intellectual or developmental disabilities, educational settings, geriatrics, medical settings, mental health, physical disabilities, or wellness.
- Gather diagnostic data from sources such as case documentation, observations of clients, or interviews with clients or family members.
- Compose, arrange, or adapt music for music therapy treatments.
- Collaborate with others to design or implement interdisciplinary treatment programs.
- Conduct, or assist in the conduct of, music therapy research.
- Document evaluations, treatment plans, case summaries, or progress or other reports related to individual clients or client groups.
- Plan or structure music therapy sessions to achieve appropriate transitions, pacing, sequencing, energy level, or intensity in accordance with treatment plans.
- Adapt existing or develop new music therapy assessment instruments or procedures to meet an individual client's needs.
- Design music therapy experiences, using various musical elements to meet client's goals or objectives.
- Communicate with clients to build rapport, acknowledge their progress, or reflect upon their reactions to musical experiences.
- Conduct information sharing sessions, such as in-service workshops for other professionals, potential client groups, or the general community.
- Observe and document client reactions, progress, or other outcomes related to music therapy.
- Assess client functioning levels, strengths, and areas of need in terms of perceptual, sensory, affective, communicative, musical, physical, cognitive, social, spiritual, or other abilities.
- Participate in continuing education.
- Identify and respond to emergency physical or mental health situations.
- Establish client goals or objectives for music therapy treatment, considering client needs, capabilities, interests, overall therapeutic program, coordination of treatment, or length of treatment.
- Assess the risks and benefits of treatment termination for clients.
- Sing or play musical instruments, such as keyboard, guitar, or percussion instruments.
- Engage clients in music experiences to identify client responses to different styles of music, types of musical experiences, such as improvising or listening, or elements of music, such as tempo or harmony.
- Apply current technology to music therapy practices.
- Design or provide music therapy experiences to address client needs, such as using music for self-care, adjusting to life changes, improving cognitive functioning, raising self-esteem, communicating, or controlling impulses.
- Observe and document client reactions, progress, or other outcomes related to music therapy.
- Communicate client assessment findings and recommendations in oral, written, audio, video, or other forms.
- Gather diagnostic data from sources such as case documentation, observations of clients, or interviews with clients or family members.
- Apply selected research findings to practice.
- Improvise instrumentally, vocally, or physically to meet client's therapeutic needs.
- Confer with professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate treatment plans.
- Analyze data to determine the effectiveness of specific treatments or therapy approaches.
- Select or adapt musical instruments, musical equipment, or non-musical materials, such as adaptive devices or visual aids, to meet treatment objectives.
- Analyze or synthesize client data to draw conclusions or make recommendations for therapy.
- Supervise staff, volunteers, practicum students, or interns engaged in music therapy activities.
- Document evaluations, treatment plans, case summaries, or progress or other reports related to individual clients or client groups.
- Sing or play musical instruments, such as keyboard, guitar, or percussion instruments.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")